Page 48 of The Cowboy's Country Charm

“Neither do I.” Cort aimed a finger at Lexi. “If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be on the committee either.”

“I just think that if she needs help, she’s more likely to come to you than to anyone else on the committee. You want this to go well. I know you’ll be there for her like no one else will be.”

His sister knew how to press his buttons.

He wiped a hand across his chin. “Look, we’ve barely started dating.” He hadn’t even been alone with her for any amount of time. “And now you want me to interfere in her business. If that won’t kill a relationship, I don’t know what will. So, no.”

“Who is more likely to step in and fix things than you? Look, I want this to go as well as Kristy does. This is my first time having a lead role in planning the event. Next year I’m hoping Cort and I can be the chairs.”

“What?” Cort’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s definitely not my hope.”

Lexi gave Cort the side-eye. “I want to be involved. Do something for the community.” She turned her attention back to Rusty. “Having you on the committee, I know you’ll have Kristy’s back. And mine. Besides you owe me.”

He frowned. “How exactly do I owe you?”

“You didn’t have my back all those years ago in the skijoring competition. You threw your support to Tamara, and I lost.”

“She’s never forgiven you for it,” Cort added.

“Don’t I know it.” It was true that he’d played it so Tamara had an edge in that particular contest. But he was young, naive, and in love at the time. “I don’t owe you.” He shook his head for emphasis, but something in his gut said he kinda did. “If I do it, I’m going to first ask her what she thinks about me replacing Cort on the committee and tell her, Lexi, it was your idea. I want to be up front with her.”

“Well, don’t say we’re checking up on her. I don’t want her to feel undermined. Just trying to build in support if she needs it.”

“Good, because I’m not spying on her, so if that is your plan, I’m not your man.”

“Fair enough. And by the way, I have some good news for you to tell Kristy. The face of the Aspriel line of Cort’s mother’s cosmetics company has agreed to enter the bail-for-jail contest, our own local made-good-in-the-big-city Greta Hutchins. Cort’s mother made it happen.”

Cort’s mother, Kate, happened to be the president of a New York-based international cosmetic company. “That’s definitely good news. So what exactly are you worried about?” Having Greta at the bail-out-of-jail event certainly would give the event a big boost.

“Vendors. Timelines. She’s got a lot of extras that she’s throwing in. The maze, the chuck wagon ice cream bar, and the bail-out-of-jail event. It’s a lot. Can she pull it all off? We don’t have a track record to judge.”

It was definitely a lot. But she seemed to be handling it.

“I thought,” Lexi continued, “that if you’re working with her, you know, as the liaison with the committee, you can head off any looming catastrophe before it becomes one.”

Framing it like he’d be helping Kristy instead of informing on her certainly was a way to make the idea more palatable.

“I’ll think about it and check in with her first.”

“As long as she doesn’t get the impression we don’t have faith in her. We just want to give her as much support as possible.”

***

Kristy and Ariel stood in the empty and vast convention center. Devoid of any furniture and with various items scattered around the perimeter, it looked more warehouse than ballroom.

“This is what you have to work with.” Kristy shook her head at the seemingly impossible task. She rubbed her sweaty hands down the denim cutoffs she’d donned. The day was hot and dry, the breeze barely discernable. And it didn’t feel like the air-conditioning was on in the building, which wasn’t much of a surprise, since cooling such a big space when no one was in it didn’t seem logical.

“At least it’s a blank canvass. Gives me lots of freedom.”

Kristy could have hugged Ariel. Just when she felt overwhelmed, Ariel was looking at the bright side.

Their mothers had headed back to Cheyenne that morning. Ariel had added pillows, paintings, tchotchkes, and curtains, all gifted to them by their mothers. Their apartment looked so much better. More home than rental. But though Kristy missed her mother, she was glad to be able to focus on her work without distractions.

She couldn’t deny that the chat with her mother had been unsettling. She still wasn’t clear about being someone’s destination. Right now she was doing the doggie paddle just to keep her head above water. That was all the “destination” she could handle.

“Isn’t it going to take a lot to transform it?” she asked.

Ariel waved an arm, and the sleeves of her flowy white top drifted in the air. Except for the denim skirt, Ariel could have passed for an angel from the waist up. And to Kristy, that was what she was. “The floor is going to be covered with tables and setups, and no one will be looking down at their feet. We’ll bring in a portable dance floor. I think we can hide a lot of the bare walls behind cornstalks.”

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